When I stumbled upon the 2020 Tagalog animated movie "Hayop Ka!", I had no idea what I was getting myself into here. But I read the synopsis for it, and have to say that I was somewhat intrigued, as "Hayop Ka!" sounded like something definitely aimed at a more mature audience.
And I will say that writers Manny Angeles, Avid Liongoren and Paulle Olivenza definitely managed to put together a story and plot that was every bit as entertaining as it was enjoyable. So yeah, "Hayop Ka!" was a wholesome animated feature for a mature audience. And when I say mature audience I don't mean that it is XXX-rated, but merely that there were references and hits towards lewd nature.
The art style in "Hayop Ka!" was strange, but enjoyably so. Initially I was a bit taken aback by the art style, but it quickly grew on me and I came to enjoy the art style that they used here because it was definitely complimenting the story and the message of the movie.
With "Hayop Ka!" being an animated movie, a proper voice cast ensemble is a must. And luckily they did have that here. While I am not familiar with Tagalog cinema, then I wasn't familiar with a single voice here. But I will say that the voice acting was good and definitely gave the characters life on the screen.
I found "Hayop Ka!" to be an enjoyable surprise of a movie, and definitely is an animated movie that I would recommend for a mature audience that enjoys light-hearted and funny stories. The fact that "Hayop Ka!" was told as an animation wasn't really a hindrance in any way.
My rating of director Avid Liongoren's "Hayop Ka!" lands on a six out of ten stars.
